LOCATING A ROAD. 267 



surveyor calls the variation at that date. The expense of fixing 

 these points, with sufficient accuracy for all surveying purposes, 

 would be trifling compared with the immense advantage gained. 



Physical reasons chiefly, such as cost of construction and 

 maintenance, and proper grades, should cause deviation from a 

 straight line, but there are, in extreme cases, considerations of 

 " land damage " that may have weight ; but a most careful bal- 

 ancing of first cost, with permanent detriment to the line, should 

 be made. 



In locating a road, the travel it is designed to accommodate, 

 the character of the ground to be passed over, and the money 

 that can be raised, are supposed to have been carefully consid- 

 ered in order to fix very nearly the maximum grade that can be 

 allowed ; and then the line must be made as direct as the nature 

 and surface of the ground, and the passage of streams, will per- 

 mit ; always taking into account subsequent cost of repairs, as 

 well as first cost. 



In order to do this properly levels must be taken throughout 

 the line, and a profile made, to show to the eye on paper the 

 grades that can be obtained, with the " cuts " and " fills " at 

 every point ; and this, as finally established, should form a part 

 of the record. Then, in construction, let the cuttings and fill- 

 ings be plainly marked upon stakes set once in fifty or a hun- 

 dred feet to guide the workmen. This grading by the eye is ex- 

 pensive in the end, for materials are apt to be taken from, and 

 carried, to the wrong places. 



It is a mistake, as often stated, that the cuts and fills should 

 balance each other ; on the contrary the latter should be usually 

 large in excess, because casting, scraping, and wheelbarrow 

 work, are so much cheaper than hauling, the road-bed is made 

 so much dryer by elevation, and proper drainage easier to obtain. 



It is best to adopt such a route as ought to be built, on a line 

 of importance, even if at first unable to carry out fully the plan, 

 for, with a definite recorded plan to work to, the completion may 

 occupy several years, while, in the meantime, a good passable 

 road can be maintained. This is the American plan of building 

 railways, which has won for itself so high English commendation 

 that the East India Company has been considering the question 

 of employing our engineers to build railways in India. 



The width taken for " right of way " should be designated at 



